Improvement in hand cotton-pickers



w. B. CARGILL. Cotton Picker. No. 27,348. Patented March 6, 1860."

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' W' rl j z f UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

IMPROVEMENT IN HAND COTTON-PICKERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 27,348, dated March 6, 1860.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known. that I, WILLIAM B. CARGILL, ot'Wa-terbury, New Haven county, State ofConnecticut, have invented a new and Improved Cotton-Picker; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, figures, and letters of reference thereon, making part of this specification.

()t' the said drawings, Figure 1 denotes a side elevation of my improved cotton-picker. Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section, showing the operative mechanism. Fig. 3 representsthe shape of the material in which is inserted the gathering-teeth.

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts in all the drawings.

' Heretofore the cotton-pickers devised by others have been heavy and cumbersome for the operator, and of intricate construction, and not well adapted for reaching all the bolls on the cotton-tree, particularly the highest and lowest, without stoopingand reaching for this purpose. Another serious objection has been the turning of a crank, which renders it difitlcult to keep the gatherers in contact with the bolls, from the unsteady and vibratory motion at this point. With others the operation of winding up thespringconsumesmuchtimewhich should be used for gathering cotton. My purpose is to obviate all these difficulties and objections by using a light portable case and imparting a steady uniform movement to the instrument by the operator, which may be worked with ease and rapidity.

.The nature of my invention consists in arranging and combining with a portable case a reciprocating gatherer, as will bemore fully set forth hereinafter; also, in combining and arranging a mechanism for operating the gatherer.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

A and B are parts of a metallic case, constructed elliptical,cylindrical,orofother shape, and are united by soldering, or made whole and strengthened by a plate, C.

l) is a gatherer, which may be constructed of a wire chain provided with teeth, or of cardfillet, consisting of wire teeth inserted in leather or other flexible material, and such as is employed for covering cotton-carding machine.

E is a slide, which reciprocates in the way B, (and to which one end of the gatherer D is secured at (1,) and has secured thereto a handle, G, which slides in a groove in the shell 13, asvshown in Fig. 2.

F is a cylinder for inclosing and holding the reacting spring a, which spring is secured to the stationary pin J (upon which the cylinder rotates) at one end, while the other is secured to the shell of the cylinder. The pin J has its journals in the ears H, as shown in Fig.1, and is prevented from rotating by a steady-pin secured to the pin J, anda correspondinggroove in the hanger H,or byothermeans wellknown.

I is a roller provided with flanges to prevent the gathering-stripfrom running off as it is worked over the roller while gathering the cotton from the bolls or pods.

Operation: The'machine is operated as follows: The operator provides a suitable receptacle for holdingthe cotton, which is attached to the case by loops or holes to the pins or buttonsf f. This receptacle being well known, any description is thought unnecessary. The instrument is then held firmly, the left hand steadying and holding it to the pods or bolls, and with the right, grasping the case so that it will slide easily, draws back the piece G, which, being secured to the piece or slide E by screws or other fastenings,and by its connections at d, draws the strip 1) over the roller I (which roller hasits hearing at 12) into the under side of the case, which operation causes the spring it to wind up as the cylinder revolves on the pin J. Having drawn the piece G clear back,

and with the gathering-teeth resting over the roller Iin contact with the cotton in the bolls,

the operator releases his hold on thehandle G, when the spring a draws byits recoilthe gathe'ring teeth into the upper sideot' the case, as seen in Fig. 2, and carries the cotton into the case attached to the gathering-teeth, being held thereon by the inclined shape oftheteeth. Projecting downward from the upper part of the case there are several rows of inclined teeth, 0 e e e, inserted or struck from the case, which teeth serve as strippers to strip the cotton from the gatherer-teeth as they are carried forward for a fresh hold of cotton from the bolls by working the gatherer by means of the handle G and spring a.

Attached to the under side of the case there is a bracket, 0, which holds an elastic or soft piece of material, q, to prevent percussion and break the force from the reaction of the bandle G. The rear portion or part ofthe gathering-chain D always in the case is widened in order toinsnre the better stripping and delivery of the cotton to the receptacle. The portion of the gathering-chain which is to be placed in contact with the bolls is necessarily narrow in order that it may easily enter the partially-opened bolls and draw the cotton therefrom.

Having thus described my improved cottonpicker, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

A. The reciprocating gatherer, arranged and operating substantially as described, whereby 

